Mistletoe
by eponnia
Summary: It is Christmas of 1831, and a certain decoration hangs above doorways. What happens when the leader of the rebellion and Marius' lovesick shadow are caught beneath the mistletoe? What about Jean Valjean's adopted daughter and her romantic revolutionary? [E/E M/C two-shot based on the 25th anniversary]
1. Chapter 1

Mistletoe

SUMMARY: It is Christmas of 1831, and a certain Christmas decoration hangs above doorways in Paris. What happens when the leader of the rebellion and Marius' lovesick shadow are caught beneath the mistletoe? What about Jean Valjean's adopted daughter and her romantic revolutionary?

Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I know that Cosette and Marius met in 1832, but for the purpose of this fanfic, just pretend they met in 1831. This is a one-shot that has no effect on the storyline whatsoever. Just some M/C fluff, because there's practically none of it. Katie Hall as Cosette (one of my favorites) and Nick Jonas as Marius. Don't worry, I'll try to do a Nick-Jonas-Marius-with-a-backbone. He's definitely not my favorite actor to play Marius, but he works because he's recent and everyone knows who he is. **

Cosette Fauchelevent sat in her room, absentmindedly doing needlework. She usually enjoyed the Christmas season, but when the small household on the corner of Rue Plumet was snowed in, Cosette had nothing to do. She had read her books so many times she had them memorized, her few friends were impossible to contact, and needlework lost its appeal. The only thing that broke up the monotony was a visit from Marius, but if the snow was deep enough, he couldn't come.

She looked up as a pebble hit her frost-lined balcony door. Standing up, she opened the door and looked out. Marius Pontmercy stood below her balcony in the snow, dressed in a thick black coat. "Marius!" Cosette said, trying to keep her tone stern but failing miserably, a smile growing over her features. "What are you doing here? My father's home!"

"Merry Christmas to you, too!" Marius said, pretending to be offended. He grinned as she tossed a golden curl over her shoulder, exasperated.

"Give me a moment," she said. "Wait there!" Cosette turned and went back into her room, shutting the door behind her. Going out into the hall, she called, "Madame Toussaint?" It was so cold in the hall that she could practically see her breath inside the manor.

"Yes, mam'selle?" the old woman said, leaving the warmth of her quarters and entering into the freezing hall. "Mon Dieu! It's as cold as–"

"Where's Papa?" Cosette interjected, not wanting to hear Madame Toussaint complain about the temperature once more.

"He's giving money to the poor, mam'selle," the old housekeeper said. "In this weather, I don't know what possessed him–"

"Thank you, Madame Toussaint," she said. She turned and went back into her room, leaving the old woman to return to her quarters. Cosette put on her thick travelling coat, winter boots, and fur scarf, and, tying her bonnet on her golden hair, grabbed her muff. Slowly opening her door, she slipped into the hall. She went down the stairs as quietly as she could as not to alert Madame Toussaint to her exit and slipped out the back door.

"Marius!" Cosette said, smiling. The garden was covered in snow and ice, transforming it from the haven she once knew to a completely different place.

"Merry Christmas, Cosette," Marius said, kissing her lightly. Taking her by the hand, he said, "I'm going to show you something." He led her to a tree by the wall surrounding the garden. "Look up," he said. She did as he asked, and saw mistletoe, lightly covered in frost, hanging from the branches of the tree.

"Oh, Marius!" she said. She hadn't seen mistletoe in ages, and had no idea that it had grown in her garden.

"Do you know what day it is, Cosette?" Marius asked.

"No, what is it?" she replied, her gaze fixed on the mistletoe.

"It's Christmas Eve," he said. She brought her eyes to his, surprised. She had lost track of the date ever since they had been snowed in, and she hadn't realized that it was so soon. Cosette found that Marius was standing very close to her. "Merry Christmas, Cosette," he said and kissed her.

She deepened the kiss, closing her eyes. They stood there for a moment, and then broke apart, gazing into each other's eyes. He suddenly picked her up and spun her around in the snow, the garden echoing with her laugher. He set her down, and she placed a kiss on his lips. Marius and Cosette went to a bench near the gate and sat down, sitting close together. They kissed again, his hands resting on her waist and her hands on his chest. She rested her head on his shoulder, his chin on the top of her head. They both looked up as snow began to fall.

"You should go inside," Marius said softly as the snow began to fall harder. "Your father will be home soon."

"I don't want to," she said, smiling. He looked at her and knew that he had never seen her so beautiful, with snow in her hair and on her eyelashes and practically glowing with contentment. "Besides, whenever Papa goes to give money to the poor, he's always gone for long periods of time." They kissed again, but Cosette suddenly pulled back.

"What is it?" Marius asked.

She did not reply for a moment. "He's home," Cosette said. They both heard a carriage pull away and footsteps in the snow – footsteps that were drawing closer and closer to Rue Plumet. It could only be her father.

Cosette sprang to her feet and pulled Marius up. "You have to go!" she said. "Before he sees you. He can't know you were here!"

She almost pushed him towards the gate. They heard the front door shut, and Cosette hurriedly unlocked the gate. "You've got about five minutes or less before he comes looking for me. Go!" He stepped through the gate, and she locked it. "Marius," Cosette said in a warning tone as he paused.

He suddenly pulled her towards the gate and kissed her through the bars. "Merry Christmas, Cosette," Marius said. He turned and left, leaving her alone in the snow-covered garden.

"Merry Christmas, Marius," she whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: I tried to keep M/É people happy (if they are still out there), and also balance it with some good old E/É awkward not-exactly fluff. Ramin Karimloo as Enjolras, Samantha Barks as Éponine, and Nick Jonas as Marius. Longer than the previous chapter/one-shot. **

Éponine Thénardier pulled open the door of the back room in Le Café Musain, grateful to leave the snow-laden street and enter into the shelter the café offered. She paused for a moment, surprised at what she saw, but continued, hardly able to hear herself think over the din.

The university students were celebrating – what, she could not tell. Perhaps they were rejoicing that the winter break at the L'Université Paris-Sorbonne had begun and they did not have to study for a month or two. Whatever the reason, many of the students were enjoying the wine their families had sent. Jérémy Grantaire was in a corner, holding a bottle of wine and unintelligibly singing a drinking song of which he knew half the words, while the rest of the lyrics were jumbled by wine. The other students moderated well enough to be coherent, but were not completely sober. Most of the students were there, but Marius, as far as Éponine could see, was nowhere to be seen.

The only one among the students who was not in the process of consuming a least a small amount of wine sat in the back of the room. The black-haired twenty-one-year-old was alone at a table, his dark eyes fixed intently on the page of the law book he held. Éponine was not surprised in the least to find Alexandre Enjolras sober, reading a law book, while the rest of the students drank well into the night. Relieved to find someone who was sober enough to help her in her search to find Marius, she crossed the room and sat across from Enjolras.

He looked up, his dark eyes brightening at the sight of her. "Éponine!" he said, putting down the law book. Clearing his throat, he continued. "What brings you here? There wasn't a meeting planned."

"I was looking to see if Mari– I mean, if any of you were here…" Éponine said. She mentally cursed herself as she saw something cross over Enjolras' face as she tried to recover. She realized that she had seen an emotion in his eyes somewhat similar to how she felt when Marius brushed her aside. It was gone in an instant, but Éponine knew what she had seen.

Her mind raced. But Enjolras had never seemed this way to her before, and she had definitely done nothing to draw his attentions – His _attentions_? Had she actually just told herself that? He wasn't attracted to her, it was merely a trick of light. Besides, her heart belonged to Marius. The same Marius that she could not find and who clearly wasn't looking for her… She would deal with that later. But was Enjolras attracted to her? It was impossible – he loved only Patria. He himself had admitted to as much. Marius had explained to her that Patria, or _Patrie_, meant Homeland, which, in turn, to Enjolras, meant France. He loved only France. Yet she had seen that he was almost hurt when she mentioned Marius' name.

"What are you celebrating?" Éponine asked, pushing the thoughts out of her mind.

"They are drinking to Christmas Eve," Enjolras said.

"Christmas Eve?" she said, surprised. She hadn't realized Christmas had arrived so soon. Winter was, to her, a time to try not to freeze or starve to death rather than a time to celebrate a holiday. She never had a religious upbringing, but knew enough to know that Christmas was the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the Holy Mother Mary's Son. Most everyone born in France at the very least gave lip service to the Catholic Church. But Éponine regarded Christmas as a wealthy man's holiday, not a time for a poor _gamine_ to enjoy. That took money, of which she did not have.

Éponine suddenly found herself gazing into Enjolras' dark eyes, with absolutely no idea how she got there. But it couldn't hurt to look a little bit longer… Marius wasn't even there… His eyes seemed fathomless, and made her feel as if she could drown in them.

She suddenly realized what she was doing. Éponine stood, turning red, as Enjolras hastily got to his feet, avoiding her eyes.

"Well, I… I'm going to go look for… Marius," she said, cursing her uncertain tongue. She turned to go, but felt a hand on her arm. Éponine looked back to see Enjolras standing beside her.

"There's a storm coming in," he said. "You can't go out there. Marius will be fine."

"Well, I… um, need to go home. My sister's waiting for me," she said. Being near him made her head spin in a way that Marius never had. She needed to clear her thoughts. Éponine hurried to the door, but stopped as Enjolras once again put a hand on her shoulder.

"Éponine," he began.

Suddenly, Grantaire unsteadily got to his feet, waving a wine bottle. "Look," he said loudly. "They're under the mistletoe!"

Éponine and Enjolras immediately looked up to the doorframe to verify Grantaire's words. A stem from a mistletoe plant hung above them, seeming to mock them. They both turned to look at the drunken student who had called the decoration to the attention of every person in the room. "Grantaire, put that bottle down and hold your tongue," Enjolras said, holding himself back from throwing his friend out onto the street. Éponine was sure she had never blushed as hard as she was at that moment. Caught with Enjolras under mistletoe? She had dreamed of meeting Marius in this situation, but Enjolras?

"You've done nothing but read those law books all night, Enjolras," Feuilly called out.

"Enjoy yourself a little," Combeferre said. The students laughed good-naturedly at Combeferre's comment.

"If you won't drink any of the wine, at least celebrate Christmas Eve somehow," Jean Prouvaire said, grinning.

"Imagine she's Patria!" Courfeyrac said, eliciting laughter from the students.

"I will not use Éponine as cheap entertainment for your wine-addled pleasure," Enjolras said, his tone deadly.

"So it's Éponine now, Enjolras?" Feuilly said. "Not Mademoiselle Thénardier?"

"Just go on and kiss the girl," Jean Prouvaire said.

Before Éponine knew what was happening, she suddenly found his lips on hers as the students cheered. He broke contact in an instant, staring into her eyes.

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Marius.

If she had thought she had turned red before, that was nothing compared to now. She was absolutely positive she had never been so embarrassed in her entire life. Éponine backed away, looking anywhere but at Marius or Enjolras.

"Merry Christmas, Éponine!" Marius said, grinning from ear to ear. He was covered in snow, and looked as if he had crossed Paris. She tried to smile, relieved that he had not seen what had transpired underneath the mistletoe moments before he entered the room. But Marius brushed past her, and Éponine watched the students welcome him, pressing a bottle of wine into his hand. Her features fell as she heard him explain to the students that he had celebrated Christmas Eve with his beloved – and his beloved was Cosette, not her.

Éponine felt a hand on her arm, and looked up to see Enjolras gazing at her. He took a step towards her, and before she could say a word, he kissed her softly on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, Éponine," Enjolras said softly. He turned and left her alone, going out into the street. She brought a hand up to her cheek, glancing at Marius. He was completely oblivious to her, but for the time being, Éponine did not care in the least.


End file.
